PanamaPlaylists – Leaked Tech CEOs Spotify Profiles

[addandsubtract]

These are the most basic bitch playlists I've seen in my life. No wonder the Spotify algorithm is so shit.

[diggan]

> No wonder the Spotify algorithm is so shit.

I guess you get what you play, none of those songs are recommended to me, and my Discover Weekly has maybe ~75% of music I like which is high enough to be useful for finding new stuff. But then I have been using Spotify for almost 20 years, might be why they're a bit better at recommending me music.

But then you also consider other people's music taste "basic" so we already know you're a bit of a elitist music snob, no wonder recommendations don't work for you :)

[fkyoureadthedoc]

Better than Apple Music, at least in my memory, I haven't had Spotify for years.

I have a suspicion that Apple Music just decides the next song based on the previous one that played, not your whole playlist or even the last n songs played.

[yellow_lead]

At least there's some aphex twin near the bottom

[HeckFeck]

So the lesson is that one must become ultra-normie in music taste before one becomes a founder? I'm waiting for the PG essay to explain this.

[joshdavham]

Not to be too sarcastic, but it always kills me when people who pride themselves as being original and contrarian turn out to be total conformists. This seems to be very common among founders/vc’s as of late.

[heavensteeth]

Mass appeal has mass appeal, apparently.

[CSMastermind]

I mean lots of what they highlight is pretty cherry-picked.

[nerdix]

Ben Horowitz "Good times" playlist is exactly what the name implies. Definitely a sex playlist.

[joshdavham]

How can we verify that these playlists are legit? I love the idea that JD Vance is listening to Justin Bieber and One Direction, but I’d like some more proof.

[jdross]

He has children, and this is what children listen to

[diggan]

> How can we verify that these playlists are legit?

Even if they are "legit", we don't know it's actually them who listened to it. I'm in the car with other people plenty of times, and listen to music I'm not a huge fan of but others are. I'm sure I'm not alone in not being 100% exclusive listener to the music my Spotify account ends up playing.

[tptacek]

Nobody under 40 listens to this much Death Cab.

[tptacek]

I love that sama had to Shazam Missy Elliot's "Get Ur Freak On", one of the three most recognizable hip-hop tracks of all time. :)

[walthamstow]

Palmer Luckey, I did not expect that. The guy is designing autonomous warfare stuff while listening to Vanessa Carlton.

[azinman2]

Mildly interesting of course, but all we’ve learned is that regardless of how high profile you are, you’re still a human embedded within a common taste space… one that was mostly formed in your teenage-to-20s years.

[nkotov]

Interesting that there's not a lot of metal / rock.

[Fokamul]

Yes, or real rap or something. HC metal or something.

Weird, or maybe website author sorted it by song's popularity?

[gishglish]

Interesting how much of it is just radio schlock. I guess I underestimate how much people really listen to that stuff.

[groundcontr01]

Mark Benioff, "Let's Get Retarded" is a gem

[dijksterhuis]

kudos to Kashmir Hill for aphex twin and nils frahm.

[lordnacho]

Looks like any old radio station. Is that down to Spotify suggesting whatever is popular, or people having ordinary tastes?

I read an article claiming that repetition causes popularity, not the other way round. Can't for the life of me find the link, maybe someone knows what I mean.

[diggan]

> Is that down to Spotify suggesting whatever is popular, or people having ordinary tastes?

I think it's the typical "average stuff for the average person", people generally don't care that much about what music is playing, as long as it's within the range of "average" and it's catchy enough. Basically open up the player, play the first thing that looks good enough and then leave it there.

Then it's called "mainstream" music for a reason, most people are OK with listening to it in the first place :)

[4gotunameagain]

I find it interesting that a guy who excitedly makes autonomous killer drones for profit (Palmer Luckey) loves:

   Lindsay Lohan
   Kelly Clarkson
   Hilary Duff
   *NSYNC
   Vanessa Carlton
   Avril Lavigne

[close04]

I don’t think people who chase money beyond any morals will have a particular taste in music. But it is a bit funny.

[AIorNot]

I know right - that was hilarious

[Fokamul]

Well, UA drones are already blasting music. So why not :)

[Bengalilol]

Ilya Sutskever and Kashmir Hill are somehow OK. The rest is quite a mess.

[angryGhost]

https://open.spotify.com/user/1225726127

That is not Vitalik...

[treebeard901]

Bondi listening to Nelly is difficult to comprehend.

[flkiwi]

Bondi is weapons grade party trash so Nelly is actually higher quality than I would expect from her, but certainly not inconceivable. Her personal reputation is firmly jello shots and purple jesus for breakfast down here. (Important to note, this is neither slut-shaming nor a political statement, other than to the extent of any hypocrisy etc. etc.)

[koakuma-chan]

No anime openings?

[jraines]

Ilya’s the only one that inspires confidence, though I can’t hate Andreesen’s Focus Alpha

[morkalork]

The playlist names are more interesting.

[beanjuiceII]

wow these are so bad

[oliv__]

This is so disappointing. Man these people are basic

[impish9208]

This is hilarious!

Dan Crenshaw — U.S. Congressman from Texas Ni**as in Paris

Karoline Leavitt — White House Press Secretary Run the World (Girls)

Marc Benioff — Salesforce CEO Billionaire

I’m disappointed to not see any thelonelyisland listeners though.